The Chemokine CCL2 Mediates the Seizure-enhancing Effects of Systemic Inflammation

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder characterized by spontaneous recurrent seizures. Brain inflammation is increasingly recognized as a critical factor for seizure precipitation, but the molecular mediators of such proconvulsant effects are only partly understood. The chemokine CCL2 is one of the most elevated inflammatory mediators in patients with pharmacoresistent epilepsy, but its contribution to seizure generation remains unexplored. Here, we show, for the first time, a crucial role for CCL2 and its receptor CCR2 in seizure control. We imposed a systemic inflammatory challenge via lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration in mice with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. We found that LPS dramatically increased seizure frequency and upregulated the expression of many inflammatory proteins, including CCL2. To test the proconvulsant role of CCL2, we administered systemically either a CCL2 transcription inhibitor (bindarit) or a selective antagonist of the CCR2 receptor (RS102895). We found that interference with CCL2 signaling potently suppressed LPS-induced seizures. Intracerebral administration of anti-CCL2 antibodies also abrogated LPS-mediated seizure enhancement in chronically epileptic animals. Our results reveal that CCL2 is a key mediator in the molecular pathways that link peripheral inflammation with neuronal hyperexcitability

Nuclear emulsions for the detection of micrometric-scale fringe patterns: an application to positron interferometry

Nuclear emulsions are capable of very high position resolution in the detection of ionizing particles. This feature can be exploited to directly resolve the micrometric-scale fringe pattern produced by a matter-wave interferometer for low energy positrons (in the 10-20 keV range). We have tested the performance of emulsion films in this specific scenario. Exploiting silicon nitride diffraction gratings as absorption masks, we produced periodic patterns with features comparable to the expected interferometer signal. Test samples with periodicities of 6, 7 and 20 {\mu}m were exposed to the positron beam, and the patterns clearly reconstructed. Our results support the feasibility of matter-wave interferometry experiments with positrons.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

A new application of emulsions to measure the gravitational force on antihydrogen

We propose to build and operate a detector based on the emulsion film technology for the measurement of the gravitational acceleration on antimatter, to be performed by the AEgIS experiment (AD6) at CERN. The goal of AEgIS is to test the weak equivalence principle with a precision of 1% on the gravitational acceleration g by measuring the vertical position of the anni- hilation vertex of antihydrogen atoms after their free fall in a horizontal vacuum pipe. With the emulsion technology developed at the University of Bern we propose to improve the performance of AEgIS by exploiting the superior position resolution of emulsion films over other particle de- tectors. The idea is to use a new type of emulsion films, especially developed for applications in vacuum, to yield a spatial resolution of the order of one micron in the measurement of the sag of the antihydrogen atoms in the gravitational field. This is an order of magnitude better than what was planned in the original AEgIS proposal.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figure

Electroantennographic responses of Aromia bungii (Faldermann, 1835) (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) to a range of volatile compounds

The red-necked longhorn beetle, Aromia bungii, is one of the most damaging pests of stone fruit trees. Native to the south-eastern Palearctic and Oriental regions, it invaded and is established to some extent in the Campania Region (Southern Italy). In several cerambycid species, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been shown to play a role in mate and host plant location. Increasing EAG amplitudes from the basal to the distal antennal segments were recorded in response to six selected plant volatiles. From the distal flagellomeres, the largest EAG responses (>0.8 mV) were elicited by 2-hexanol, octanal, sulcatone, guaiacol, sulcatol, 2,4-dimethyl-3-hexanol, 2,4-dimethyl-2-hexanone, heptanal, nonanal, (Z)-3-hexenol, and 1-heptanol in both sexes, and by linalool, (E)-2-heptenal, 1-octen-3-ol, (E)-2-octenal, 3-octanol, (E)-2-octen-1-ol, alfa-phellandrene, and alfa-terpinene in males. The olfactory system of both sexes proved to be sensitive to changes in stimulus concentration and compound structure. This study demonstrates the capability of A. bungii males and females to detect and discriminate among a wide range of VOCs and provides a basis for further olfactometer and field trapping experiments aimed at identifying behaviorally-active compounds useful for the implementation of semiochemical-based control strategies for this pest

Determination of free and amidated bile acids by high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light-scattering mass detection

A simple reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method for a simultaneous analysis of free, glycine- and taurine-amidated bile acids is described. The resolution of ursodeoxycholic, cholic, chenodeocycholic, deoxycholic, and lithocholic acids, either free or amidated with glycine and taurine, is achieved using a C-18 octadecylsilane column (30 cm length, 4 micron particle size) with a gradient elution of aqueous methanol (65—-75%) containing 15 mM ammonium acetate, pH 5.40, at 37 degrees C. The separated bile acids are detected with a new evaporative light-scattering mass detector and by absorbance at 200 nm. A complete resolution of the 16 bile acids, including the internal standard nor-deoxycholic acid, is obtained within 55 min. Using the light-scattering mass detector, amidated bile acids and, for the first time, free bile acids can be detected with similar detection limits in the order of 2-7 nmol. The new detector improves the baseline and the signal-to-noise ratio over the UV detection as it is not affected by impurities present in the samples with higher molar absorptivity than bile acids or by the change in the mobile phase composition during the gradient. The method fulfills all the standard requirements of precision and accuracy and the linearity of the mass detector is over 5 decade the detection limit. The new method has been used for the direct analysis of bile acid in stools and bile with only a preliminary clean-up procedure using a C-18 reverse phase extraction

First results on proton radiography with nuclear emulsion detectors

We propose an innovative method for proton radiography based on nuclear emulsion film detectors, a technique in which images are obtained by measuring the position and the residual range of protons passing through the patient's body. For this purpose, nuclear emulsion films interleaved with tissue equivalent absorbers can be used to reconstruct proton tracks with very high accuracy. This is performed through a fully automated scanning procedure employing optical microscopy, routinely used in neutrino physics experiments. Proton radiography can be used in proton therapy to obtain direct information on the average tissue density for treatment planning optimization and to perform imaging with very low dose to the patient. The first prototype of a nuclear emulsion based detector has been conceived, constructed and tested with a therapeutic proton beam. The first promising experimental results have been obtained by imaging simple phantoms.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Instrumentation (JINST

Improving water use efficiency in vertical farming: Effects of growing systems, far-red radiation and planting density on lettuce cultivation

Vertical farms (VFs) are innovative urban production facilities consisting of multi-level indoor systems equipped with artificial lighting in which all the environmental conditions are controlled independently from the external climate. VFs are generally provided with a closed loop fertigation system to optimize the use of water and nu-trients. The objective of this study, performed within an experimental VF at the University of Bologna, was to quantify the water use efficiency (WUE, ratio between plant fresh weight and the volume of water used) for a lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) growth cycle obtained in two different growing systems: an ebb-and-flow substrate culture and a high pressure aeroponic system. Considering the total water consumed (water used for irrigation and climate management), WUE of ebb-and-flow and aeroponics was 28.1 and 52.9 g L-1 H2O, respectively. During the growing cycle, the contribution generated by the recovery of internal air moisture from the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, was quantified. Indeed, by recovering water from the dehu-midifier, water use decreases dramatically (by 67 %), while WUE increased by 206 %. Further improvement of WUE in the ebb-and-flow system was obtained through ameliorated crop management strategies, in particular, by increasing planting densities (e.g., 153, 270 and 733 plants m-2) and by optimizing the light spectrum used for plant growth (e.g., adjusting the amount of far-red radiation in the spectrum). Strategies for efficient use of water in high-tech urban indoor growing systems are therefore proposed

Optimal photoperiod for indoor cultivation of leafy vegetables and herbs

In Vertical Farms with Artificial Lighting (VFALs), optimal light management is a crucial determinant of both economic and environmental viability. Applications of LED technologies to plant cultivation are still recent, and research has to date mainly targeted the definition of optimal spectral and light intensity features. On the other hand, despite the relevant implications on production costs, literature on optimal photoperiod management is to date limited. Indeed, the number of hours per day correlates with the total light supplied to the crop \u2013 expressed as Daily Light Integral (DLI) \u2013 and the associated energetic costs. The present study aims at defining how photoperiods of 16 h d-1 (DLI= 14.4 mol m-2 d-1), 20 h d-1 (DLI= 18 mol m-2 d-1) and 24 h d-1 (DLI= 21.6 mol m-2 d-1)of light affect growth performances and resource use efficiency in leafy vegetables and herbs, represented by lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), basil (Ocimum basilicum L.), rocket (Eruca sativa Mill.), and chicory (Cichorium intybus L.). Plants were cultivated indoor under a red (R) and blue (B) LED light (RB=3, photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD)= 250 mmol m-2 s-1). Photoperiod variations\u2019 effects differed according to the considered plant species. In lettuce and chicory, the adoption of a DLI of 14.4 mol m-2 d-1 at 16 h d-1 photoperiod resulted in a greater plants fresh biomass and leaf area, which also contributed to generally obtain higher energy use efficiency (fresh biomass per unit of electricity input), light use efficiency (dry biomass per unit of light input) and, in chicory, also water use efficiency (fresh biomass per liter of water consumed). Contrarily, although photoperiod variations did not affect basil and rocket growth parameters (e.g., fresh biomass and leaf area) and the plant capacity to transform resources (e.g., water use efficiency and light use efficiency), energy use efficiency in basil also presented a downward trend in response to growing DLI. Accordingly, the adoption of a DLI of 14.4 mol m-2 d-1 at 16 h d-1 photoperiod resulted to be the optimal option among the ones tested in the presented research